FRANCE: Air France Experienced Traffic Low After Paris Attacks

Air France has experienced some reduction in traffic following Paris attacks, but it is too early to say how severe the impact on bookings will be, a company source said.

“Clearly this type of absolutely tragic event has consequences, but it is too early to say what the impact is,” the source said, adding, “We will have to adapt.”

Cancellations of bookings have exceeded new reservations, the chief executive of Franco-Dutch parent Air France KLM SA, Alexandre de Juniac, said.

The comments are the first sign of concern at France’s national airline, which earlier this week said it had seen no immediate impact on plane occupancy over the weekend and that it was maintaining its schedules.

The airline is due to publish November traffic data on Dec. 8.

Shares in Air France-KLM and French hotels group Accor, which fell because of worries over a drop in bookings, had recovered about half their losses by Thursday.

Air France-KLM was up almost 3 percent and Accor up more than 1 percent at the close.

The attacks which killed at least 129 people, sent shudders through the tourism industry as Paris is one of the world’s most visited cities.

Restaurants in the main commercial district of Paris that had emptied or closed following the attacks were full of lunchtime diners, and travelers said the rail and air routes into Paris looked reasonably busy.